documents - date of birth discrepency

[matei]

Hi all,

Finally have a bit of free time to start gathering all the necessary paperwork in order to bring it to the consulate here in London. Unfortunately I stumbled across an inexplicable date of birth discrepency on my GGF's papers.

The birth certificate from the commune states 07 April 1878, and his petition states this as well. His wife's death cert (she died before him) his age is given as 64, so that would place him at the correct year

However on his death cert, as well as a draft registration card, he has listed the date as 07 April 1882. That is a difference of 4 years.

Aside from the spelling errors, I can see it is the same person, as on the petition it lists his children with the correct birthdates, as well as his wife's name and birthdate. Likewise, on the death certs, his wife's name and birthdate is correct.

Has anyone else encountered something like this? Is there anything that can be done in this type of situation?

Would a positive/negative letter from the commune help? If so - does anyone have a template for such a letter?

thanks!

[mler]

Generally, a minor error on the death certificate is not an issue since the information is often provided by a bereaved relative who may not possess all the correct data.

The draft registration card is not required by the consulate, so any errors on that form will not be a problem.

[matei]

Thanks for the advice - seems logical.

I know that the person who filled out the death cert, one of my great uncles, wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, so the wrong date is hardly surprising.

[ericderrico]

"Generally, a minor error on the death certificate is not an issue since the information is often provided by a bereaved relative who may not possess all the correct data."

mler, can you comment further on this? I have a similar issue on my Grandfather's death certificate where his mother's maiden name is incorrectly spelled.

[mler]

I really don't have much to add except that the information provided on the birth certificate comes from the parents, and the information on the marriage certificate comes from the parties to the marriage. On the death certificate, the information is provided by a bereaved relative who may not have complete or accurate information. In any case, it is the birth and marriage certificates that actually show the line of descent.

On my grandfather's death certificate, his mother's maiden name was completely different from her name on his birth certificate--not even close. One would think his wife (my grandmother) would know her mothe-in-law's name. Maybe she wanted to forget it. In any case, the NY consulate totally ignored that discrepancy. This was about ten years ago, however.

[matei]

Thanks for the additional insight.

[jennabet]

For the record. When my companion's cousin was visiting us in Italy, his purpose was also to locate his grand-father's birth certificate from Calabria. His grand-parents were married in the State of New York, and the name of the groom's mother in Italy was listed on that certificate. But when we found the groom's birth certificate from Calabria, his mother had a completely different first and last name. Now our cousin knew why his grand-mother and the three children she had with this man never knew anything about their father's relatives back in Italy as he was already married in Italy and had abandoned his wife and children to come to the USA. In short, he was a bigamist. I do not know of any cases where any consulate would approve a recognition application for the descendant of a bigamist and for sure I wouldn't expect the New York consulate to overlook something like that. Bigamy is a crime in Italy and the USA. A bigamists second marriage in the USA would not even be considered legal in Italy and any children of such a marriage would be considered illegitimate. Names on documents that do not match up are NEVER overlooked.

[mler]

I agree, jennebet. It would be very difficult to prove a citizenship line in cases of bigamy (and I suspect this happened more often than one might think).

That is why the birth and marriage documents are essential. The parents' names on those documents represent the prime evidence of paternity. In my case, for example, both parents were listed correctly on my ggf''s marriage documents and on my gf's birth and marriage documents; and obviously, were also correct on the documents leading to me and my children. (The marriage document for my ggf was not required by the consulate; I obtained it for family records). On my gf's death certificate, another name was given for his mother, one that did not match her name on my gf's parents' marriage documents or her name on his birth certificate. So whoever provided that information, perhaps my gm, made an error.

Because all the birth and marriage documents were consistent and correct, NY ignored the obvious error on the death certificate. Death certificates are required, if applicable, and they complete the document set, but they do not provide paternity or maternity evidence. The birth and marriage certificates provide that evidence, and that is why consistency on those documents is critical.

[matei]

One can uncover some pretty unbelievable secrets when delving into the past. I've already stumbled across a few, thankfully none on this side involve bigamy or children outside of wedlock.

Thanks again for the helpful information.

[mler]

In my genealogical research, I heard some rather “interesting” stories (happily, not in my direct line. Whew!).